The Independent makes a case for Turkey in the EU: "Turkish membership would be a tremendous boost for relations between Europe and the Muslim world. At a stroke, the EU would be transformed from looking like a white, Christian club, to an alliance of free-trading democracies. And the influence of the mostly moderate Muslims of Turkey might even help to counteract the spread of separatist Islamism in the likes of Britain and the Netherlands. Nor should we forget that the lure of membership gives Europe great scope to push for reform within Turkey, even if the results so far have been less than many hoped for. The process is almost as valuable as the result. President [Barack] Obama might have been a little indelicate in throwing Washington's full backing behind Ankara's EU bid, but we should be in no doubt about one thing: it is not in the interests of a single European to see the door slammed in Turkey's face." (07/04/2009)

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Turkish-born columnist Cilay Özdemir argues in the daily Trouw that Turkey should join the EU: "The advantage of Turkey is that it's the sole country that can form a bridge between the West and the East. It's no secret that the country has a poor reputation as far as human rights and freedoms go. And Turkey rightly takes international criticism seriously on this front. In recent years the country has greatly improved its human rights record, especially for minorities. There's still a lot more to do. ... [But] Turkey serves as a model in the region. For decades the Arab populations have heard from their corrupt regimes that Islam and democracy are not compatible. This dogma has been far less easy to swallow since the Islamic AKP took office in Turkey. A large part of the democratic development in Turkey has taken place thanks to the AKP." (07/04/2009)

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All available articles from » Cilay Özdemir

Dorothée Schmid, director of the Turkey programme at the French Institut of International Relations (IFRI), comments in an interview with the weekly magazine Le Nouvel Observateur on Barack Obama's call for bringing Turkey firmly into the Western camp: "This vision follows more or less on the vision prevalent during the Cold War, when Turkey was against the Soviet Bloc. ... The major problem today is that people are weary of enlargement, and with the immense difficulties faced by the EU in absorbing the last major enlargement as well as the other more minor ones. ... Turkey goes through successive phases of instability, and that tarnishes its image abroad. ... The Europeans want to avoid putting the accent on religious differences. What's important for the Americans, on the contrary, is to stress that this 'moderate' religious identity can function as a bridge to the Muslim world." (06/04/2009)

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All available articles from » Emilie Jardin

Turkey must become a member of the EU, Dirk Verhofstad of the independent think tank Liberales writes in the daily De Standaard: "To slam the door in Turkey's face for good would be, as [Barack] Obama well knows, a momentous mistake. … I'm talking about protecting the rights and freedoms of every single Turk, Kurd, Armenian, Circassian, Arab or anyone else with a special background living in Turkey today. This is about people, about their rights and freedoms. It's about the protection of their uniqueness. If we keep the door shut on Turkey we are giving those who want to reduce the Turks to a single identity - that of their Muslim existence - free reign to do so. And in so doing we would be pushing this huge country into the greedy hands of the Islamists with their dubious human rights agenda, particularly as regards women." (07/04/2009)

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All available articles from » Dirk Verhofstadt

Writing in the daily newspaper I Kathimerini Stavros Lygeros asks why so many people seem surprised that US President Barack Obama has called for Turkey to be allowed to join the EU: "From the very beginning the US lobbied for Turkey's EU membership, not because it loves the Turks but because such a development would serve its main interests, which are based on strategic considerations. The US has never looked kindly on European integration because it sees the EU as a rival to its own leading role. … The US quite rightly believes that Turkey will undermine Europe's attempts to unify, particularly at a political level. The growing ego of Ankara and the way it tries to haggle are not compatible with the common European parameters for a constructive compromise." (07/04/2009)

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An earthquake in Italy's mountainous Abruzzo region has left at least 150 dead, a further 1,500 injured and around 100,000 homeless. The daily La Repubblica writes that the government must now set new priorities: "Italy is a poorly managed country where earthquakes have destroyed many lives and hopes, as well as houses, palaces, hospitals, churches and schools, and which was still waiting for the damage caused by the last earthquake to be repaired. Nevertheless the construction of yet another room or a veranda still takes priority. The land is consumed in a way that borders on private plundering of public property. … It's time to implement sustainable … environmental protection. In view of this disaster the multi-layered and cross-party mass of those who want to protect Italy's great historical, cultural and natural heritage from the egoism of the individual is now called on more than ever to take up the factual challenges. The era of the old ideologies - red or green or whatever - has ended. Now it's time for realism." (07/04/2009)

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All available articles from » Giovanni Valentini

The leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Kim Jong II has once again flexed the military muscles of his starving state, writes the daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung commenting on North Korea's recent missile test. "China, without whose economic help Kim Jong II's regime and his abused state could hardly survive, shows restraint when things threaten to get serious in the nuclear dispute. … The same goes for Russia. In the course of the six-party negotiations North Korea's dialogue partners have not managed to resolutely pull together and have thus provided Kim Jong II again and again with more leeway for dangerous atomic escapades. On the day of the most recent missile test US President Barack Obama was dreaming in Prague of a world without nuclear weapons. A wonderful dream. But Kim Jong II wanted to sing a different song in outer space, a song in praise of a regime that makes the nuclear option the basis of its policy." (06/04/2009)

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All available articles from » Beat Wieser

The former Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has made his first visit as designated Secretary General of Nato to Turkey. Turkey had expressed the greatest doubts about him because of his role during the Muhammad cartoon crisis. The daily Jyllands-Posten comments: "He can cite Denmark and other Nordic countries without qualms as model nations when it comes to sexual equality, the rights of homosexuals, access to education and health care as well as religious freedom. A recent opinion poll also showed that Muslim immigrants in Denmark are more content than in other countries." (07/04/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Religion, » Weltanschauung, » Denmark, » Turkey

In the parliamentary elections held in the Republic of Moldova last Sunday the Communists won half of the vote. The daily Cotidianul sees this as a bad sign. "A million Moldovans have left to work abroad - and that number is steadily growing. Hundreds of thousands more live in Transnistria [the eastern part of the Republic of Moldova]. In this situation the Communists can only govern citizens who wouldn't give a cent for a Moldovan passport and just want Romanian citizenship. And who are waiting for a sign that border trafficking will once again be possible so that they can at least eke out a living by selling wheat in Romania instead of in neighbouring Russia. The rulers of this demographic and economic vacuum, the Communists, will remain in power as long as Russia wants them to." (07/04/2009)

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All available articles from » Razvan Ciubotaru

Jürgen Kaube comments in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Barack Obama's call for a world without nuclear weapons, and wonders why so few people have bothered to react: "Where were the special late night programmes? Why are the philosophers so silent? What bishops have called for a prayer of thanksgiving? The American president announces a world without nuclear weapons and no one lends an ear. ... It's been a long time since people have bothered to discuss the compact description 'nuclear age', because each week we're threatened by another major danger: economic crisis, climate change, demographic development, energy supply. ... It seems as if this inflationary spiral of crisis has robbed Obama of the impact of his speech. Measured against the past, what he said was simply incredible. People know that, too, but the only reaction that occurs to them is a benevolent nod. Just imagine if Mikhail Gorbachev had announced the end of the Soviet empire and people had called it a very important signal." (07/04/2009)

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All available articles from » Jürgen Kaube

Is the current financial crisis a sign of the end of history? Did "the short 20th century" really end in 1989? Alexander Andreev questions the theories of US political theorist Francis Fukuyama and British historian Eric Hobsbawm: "Why should the collapse of one of the two systems that dominated the last century necessarily put an end to history? And has the victory of capitalism really proved definite, uncontested and triumphant? The current crisis, which is clearly a crisis of capitalism, doubtlessly has the potential to end one cycle and mark the final end to the twentieth century, which was not 'short', but only 'deferred'. ... In 1989, people in Eastern Europe were talking about a 'third way' and 'socialism with a human face'. Nowadays people in the West are once again talking about a third way and a more humane form of capitalism. Back then people hit the streets and played a part in writing history. Currently people are also demonstrating, although not in such large numbers. Just like 20 years ago, moral demands are being made today. Yes, this is the pendulum principle. It seems that humanity has moved forward after all." (07/04/2009)

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All available articles from » Alexander Andreev

According to the conservative daily Rzeczpospolita, the Russian oil companies Lukoil and Transneft are interested in a financial cooperation with the Polish oil company PKN Orlen. But this would increase Poland's energy dependency, the paper comments: "Let's not fool ourselves. The Russians treat our region differently than they do sunny Italy. And that has nothing to do with the fact that Vladimir Putin gets along better with Silvio Berlusconi than with [Polish Prime Minister] Donald Tusk. Central and Eastern Europe is a neuralgic region for the Russians. And their business strategy here is practically diametrically opposed to that for Western Europe. We must not lose sight of this fact. ... The deal with the Russians would give PKN Orlen short-term liquidity. But it woud wreak havoc on the detailed plan developed over many years for a rapprochement between Poland and Lithuania. And it would jeopardise the country's energy security as well." (07/04/2009)

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All available articles from » Jacek Kurasz

The German-Russian consortium Nord Stream AG has commissioned a bus to tour Sweden advertising for the natural gas pipeline which is to run under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany. The pipeline runs through Sweden's economic zone and therefore requires a permit from the Swedish government. The daily Göteborgs-Posten urges Stockholm not to give in: "Nord Stream is putting the thumbscrews on the Swedish government. … The government is expected to say yes even though it points out that a stringent assessment of the environmental impact must be carried out. This will perhaps suffice to delay the project. But the decision is of a political and not an administrational nature. … Perhaps it's impossible to stop Nord Stream. The legal situation is unclear. But the Swedish government can at least try to let the German government know that the construction project is unwanted." (07/04/2009)

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Latvia has been harder hit by the economic crisis than Estonia. However the false image of a homogenous Baltic region will mean that the problems of one country are automatically seen to be affecting the others, the daily Postimees writes critically. "The rest of the world often lumps the three Baltic states together both economically and politically. This perception doesn't fit in at all with our own image of ourselves. After all, we would prefer to be like Finland - but nonetheless it doesn't make sense to continually ignore this fact. Improved cooperation among the Baltic states would not replace relations between Estonia and Finland nor would it compete with our ties with the European Union. Hard times are a challenge for everyone, and it will be easier to overcome the crisis together. As far as the rest of the world is concerned the central point of the Baltic region is in [the Latvian capital] Riga, but that need not be negative for us. Three small states acting together can offer more possibilities than if they each act separately." (07/04/2009)

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The weekly newspaper Observator Cultural prints an excerpt of an essay by Croatian writer Slavenka Drakulic which is written from the perspective of a stray dog in Bucharest: "The ownerless dogs don't entirely suit the new capitalist Bucharest. Every mayor promises to solve the problem, but not a single one has done a thing. ... Sure, you can blame cowboy capitalism, bureaucracy, mistaken policies and disappointment at the EU. I think the dogs here are viewed the way your species [humans] is, as victims both of communism and of the democratic process. ... I've observed that it's easy to feel lost and inept in this individualist society: it isn't easy to take responsibility for your own life nowadays, not to mention those of the unfortunate dogs in the area. ... You could say this society has a laissez-faire attitude, and hasn't yet fully woken up from the communist lethargy." (07/04/2009)

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All available articles from » Slavenka Drakulic

Mihaela Nedelu, a lecturer at the Institut für Allgemeine Soziologie (institute for general sociology) at the University of Neuchâtel, analyses in the French daily Le Temps how immigrants use information and communication technologies to cultivate new ties with their countries of origin: "The transnationalism of immigrants is not a new phenomenon, even if social sciences only started to show an interest two decades ago. The dissemination of information and communication technologies, above all digital media, in all areas of everyday life has brought decisive changes. … We have become witnesses from afar of a true revolution in social relations. … Today the use of communication technologies is no longer the exclusive privilege of highly qualified immigrants. Broad and mobile sections of the population use these technologies with a lot of creativity. They represent a genuine source of help for immigrants living in uncertain circumstances. And they also create new spaces for the expression, struggle and social integration of marginalised sections of the population." (07/04/2009)

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All available articles from » Mihaela Nedelu